Crystal Palace U18 4-2 Fulham U18

Fulham Under-18s suffered a 4-2 defeat to Crystal Palace in South London on Saturday. 

After going behind, Callum Osmand got us back on level terms, before Ollie Gofford got his name on the scoresheet midway through the second half, getting us a goal back to keep his side in the game.

With the games coming thick and fast, Head Coach Ali Melloul needed to make a few changes to the side that beat Swansea City in the FA Youth Cup just three days ago.

Bradley Slade and Eddy Nsasi returned to the starting lineup in defence and in midfield, 16-year-old Alfie White was handed his first start having previously come on as a substitute.

With Aaron Loupalo-Bi and Lemar Gordon absent, Ma’kel Bogle-Campbell started on the left wing with Callum Osmand taking the vacant position up front. Jayden Quashie, who recently made his Under-21s debut, started in the number 10 position.

After a fairly even opening five minutes, Tom Olyott found himself with space and time down the right-hand side. The winger fired in a low cross, but it was just behind Osmand.

We took the lead moments later thanks to a lovely team move. Bogle-Campbell found the overlapping run of Slade and his decent low cross was fired home at the back post by Osmand.       

The hosts grabbed themselves an equaliser on 14 minutes, courtesy of Rio Cardines. Marco Underwood did well to get down and save an initial effort, but the left-back was perfectly placed to fire home from the rebound.

Underwood was soon called into action for us again, diving to his right to push away Seb Williams’ stinging long-range drive.

Osmand had another crack at goal as he looked for his second of the game. The forward received the ball in a crowded area but did well to win his side a corner via a block.

Osmand was looking lively and came close again with eight minutes of the first half remaining. After shifting the ball past a defender, he forced goalkeeper William Eastwood into a strong save from a tight angle.

Palace retook the lead on the brink of half-time, when Matteo Dashi tapped in from close range at the back post after latching onto a low cross. That meant the home side took a 2-1 lead into the break.

In at attempt to bolster the attacking options for the second half, we brought on winger Farhaan Ali-Wahid in place of Quashie.

Jesse Derry attempted an audacious scissor-kick a few minutes after the restart for Palace, but his effort flew high and wide of the target.

Underwood made another excellent save for us soon after, and it was Derry causing problems again. His curling effort from afar was heading in at the far post, if not for the fingertips of our ‘keeper.

Slade showed his quality when it comes to deliveries into the box again, swinging in a stunning cross towards Nsasi whose header went just over.

We got away with one soon after, with Derry hitting the crossbar from point-blank range after a mix-up at the back. Then, Underwood needed to be on his toes to block another effort as the hosts enjoyed a dominant period. 

The pressure soon told, with Palace scoring a third. Derry cut in from the left before sliding a powerful low effort into the far bottom corner.

We refused to let heads drop and grabbed one back a few minutes later. Another excellent Slade cross was headed in off the crossbar by Gofford to bring the game back to life.

Our lads were working hard to level the scoring, but it was the young Eagles who struck next. Just moments after the home side hit the post, Asher Agbinone curled an impressive strike past Underwood from outside the area.

Time soon ran out and the referee blew the full-time whistle. The young Whites now begin prepation for their FA Youth Cup fifth round tie against Liverpool next Sunday.